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5 APRIL 2002 VOL 296 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org54
We are living in the age of science.There are more scientists aliveand practicing today than in all
the previous periods of history combined.Science permeates the cultural outlook ofour societies and the worldview of morepeople than ever before. Science has con-tributed to enormous achievements in hu-man welfare. Thanks to numerous scientificadvances, we are now moving to the thirdglobal revolution, a new world that has nev-er been more promising, or more perilous.
The first of the great global revolutionswas the agrarian revolution that settledpeople in small communities and launchedcivilizations. By thebanks of the Nile andalong other great riv-ers of the world, ourancestors establishedthe foundations of or-ganized society andfashioned the wiseconstraints that makepeople free. They cre-ated the wonders of the ancient world.Even today, it is the surpluses produced byfarmers that make city life possible.
The second great global revolution, theindustrial revolution, was the harbinger ofenormous change in production methods,and in the relationship of people to the fi-nal product on which they labored. The ar-tisan became a worker; processes of pro-duction and specialization led to an enor-mous burst of output, bringing big im-provements for much of humanity duringthe next two centuries.
The Third Global RevolutionOur world is undergoing a third transfor-mation, one so profound that its contourscan only be dimly perceived, its drivingforces barely understood, and its momen-tous consequences hardly imagined. In-deed, it provokes fear as much as it se-duces the imagination.
Driven by ever more powerful comput-ers and ever-faster communications, thedigital language of bits and bytes allows usto merge the realms of words, music, im-age, and data as never before. It creates
new industries; the old disappear. With theclick of a mouse and the flight of an elec-tron, billions of dollars move across theglobe. The Internet has revolutionized thevery meaning of time and space. Current-ly, there are about 2 billion pages on theInternet, which will increase to 8 billionpages by 2005. Will these be the forces ofhomogenization or of diversity? Will theybe used to crush the weak or to affordthem new opportunities?
From informatics to biology, the revolu-tion continues. We have decoded the DNAblueprint of life, are learning to manage thedeployment and expression of genes, are
mobilizing bacteria to do our work, and aremanipulating the very building blocks oflife. Our new capacities pose new and pro-found ethical and safety issues. Unlike thepast, the new issues of proprietary sciencewill also complicate our future.
The Paradox of Our TimesConsider the paradox of our times. We livein a world of plenty, of dazzling scientificadvances and technological breakthroughs.Yet our times are marred by conflict, vio-lence, economic uncertainty, and tragicpoverty. A sense of insecurity pervades eventhe most affluent societies. Nations are look-ing inward, and the rich turn their backs onthe poor. Even though we may have pushedback the specter of a nuclear holocaust, otherchallenges that are just as serious and asdaunting loom ahead: globalization, environ-mental pollution, poverty, and hunger.
Much has been done to make the worlda better place. The 20th century was one ofstruggle for emancipation. The colonieswere liberated; many women got the fran-chise; and racial, ethnic, and religious mi-norities and nonconformists were ac-knowledged to have political and civilrights arising from their common humani-ty. There have been many socioeconomicimprovements over the last 40 years: de-
veloping countries have doubled schoolenrollments, halved infant mortality andadult illiteracy, and extended life ex-pectancy at birth by 20 years. Despitethese advances, much remains to be done.A global developmental agenda demandsour efforts and our solidarity.
Today:• 1.2 billion people live on less than a
dollar per day. • 1 billion people do not have access to
clean water.• More than 2 billion people have no
access to adequate sanitation. • 1.3 billion people, mostly in cities in
the developing world, are breathing air be-low the standards considered acceptableby the World Health Organization.
• 700 million people, mostly womenand children, suffer from indoor air pollu-tion due to biomass-burning stoves, equiv-alent to smoking three packs of cigarettesper day.
• Hundreds of millions of poor farmershave difficulty maintaining the fertility ofsoils from which they eke out a meagerliving.
To this stock of problems, we can nowadd a slew of new challenges. The humanpopulation is increasing by 80 million per-sons a year, mostly in the poorest coun-tries. Dramatic overconsumption andwaste in wealthy nations and populationpressure in poor countries are puttingenormous pressures on the ecosystems onwhich we all depend.
The world’s marine fisheries are grosslyoverexploited. Soils are eroding. Water isbecoming scarcer. Deforestation is continu-ing. We must redouble our efforts to addressthe global challenges of desertification, cli-mate change, and biodiversity. Agriculturemust be transformed to promote sustainablefood security for the billions of hungry peo-ple in the world. The challenges of urbanpoverty and environmental destruction areunprecedented, and will only increase withthe urban populations of developing nationsexpected to treble over the next two genera-tions. In the 47 “least developed” countriesof the world, 10% of the world’s populationsubsists on less than 0.5% of the world’s in-come. Some 40,000 people die fromhunger-related causes every day. One sixthor more of the human family lives amarginalized existence. Therein lies thechallenge before us. Will we accept such hu-man degradation as inevitable? Or will westrive to help the less fortunate? Will we re-gard ourselves as no longer responsible forfuture generations, or will we try to act astrue stewards of Earth? It is not resourcesthat are lacking; it is the will to harnessthem. Indeed, the world has never been rich-er, and the future promises even more.
P E R S P E C T I V E S : T H E R I C E G E N O M E
World Poverty and Hunger—
the Challenge for ScienceIsmail Serageldin
“…a world divided cannot stand;
humanity cannot survive partly rich
and mostly poor.”
S C I E N C E ’ S C O M P A S S
The author is Director of the Library of Alexandria,Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Shatby, Alexandria 21526,Egypt. E-mail: [email protected]
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www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 296 5 APRIL 2002 55
A Growing Gap Between Rich and PoorIt is inconceivable that there should besome 800 million persons going hungry ina world that has the resources to providefor that most basic of all human needs. Inthe 19th century, some people looked atthe condition of slavery and said that itwas monstrous and unconscionable—thatit must be abolished. They were known asthe abolitionists. They did not argue fromeconomic self-interest but from moral out-rage. Today the condition of hunger in aworld of plenty is equally monstrous andunconscionable and must be abolished. Wemust become the “new abolitionists.” Wemust, with the same zeal and moral out-rage, attack the complacency that wouldturn a blind eye to this silent holocaust,which claims tens of thousands of hunger-related deaths every day.
Addressing the American people, Abra-ham Lincoln said that a house divided can-not stand; a nation cannot live half slaveand half free. Today, I say that a world di-vided cannot stand; humanity cannot sur-vive partly rich and mostly poor.
Despite our enormous productivity, theundeniable benefits of globalization andtrade, and the amazing achievementsrecorded on the social indicators for mostof Earth’s people, there has been an alarm-ing rise in inequality both between andwithin countries.
The top 20% of the world’s populationconsumes 85% of the world’s income, theremaining 80% live on 15%, with the bot-tom 20% living on 1.3% of the world’s in-come. And these disparities are growing.A generation ago, people in the top 20%were 30 times as rich as those in the bot-tom 20%. Now, they are more than 70times as rich, yet will not give 0.3% oftheir income for the poorer 80% of hu-manity. The richest three persons on theplanet have more wealth than the com-bined GDP of the 47 poorest countries.The richest 15 persons have more wealththan the combined GDP of all of sub-Sa-haran Africa with its 550 million people!
If indeed we are moving toward a knowl-edge-based society, then connectivity andthe preparation of human capital and its de-ployment will be the key to enabling poordeveloping countries to improve their situa-tion. Yet, here too, the figures are troubling.There is a vast and growing gap in the pro-duction and availability of scientists and en-gineers between the wealthy NorthernHemisphere and the poorer Southern Hemi-sphere. Whereas the United States andJapan have about 70 researchers and engi-neers per 10,000 population, and China canclaim six, the poorest developing countriesin Africa have fewer than one (see the figurethis page, top). In 2000, telephone lines per
thousand persons numbered 567 in high-income countries, and 145 and 37 in mid-dle- and low-income countries, respectively(see the figure this page, bottom). At theturn of the millennium, per-sonal computers per 10,000persons stood at 1800 forthe rich, 230 for middle-in-come countries, and onlyone for the poor. The richaccount for 88% of all In-ternet connections, yet con-stitute only 15% of theworld’s population.
The future does not lookany more promising. Ter-tiary school enrollments in1980 in the low-, middle-,and high-income countriesstood at 4, 11, and 34%, re-spectively (see the figurenext page, top). By 1996,these figures stood at 5, 15,and 58%, respectively.There are a few exceptions,such as the Republic of Korea and Singa-pore, which have joined the high-incomeenrollment statistics (see the figure nextpage, bottom). Such quantitative indicatorsdo not take into account the enormous dif-ferentials in quality of education, especiallyat the primary and secondary levels.
What Science Can DoIt is against this backdrop that we must ad-dress how science can meet head-on thechallenge of world poverty and hunger.
On the positive side, science can helpto feed the hungry, heal the sick, protectthe environment, provide dignity in work,and create space for the joy of self-expres-sion. Yet, on the negative side, lack of op-portunity to master science and the newtechnologies will accentuate the divide be-tween rich and poor. On an average per
capita basis, the rich countries have about40 times the income levels of the poor, butthey invest 220 times as much in research.
To these troubling trends we must add thespecial challenge of dealing with the emer-gence of private sector–driven science, whichincreasingly poses the problem of how toprotect intellectual property rights withoutimpeding free access to research tools andthe equitable sharing of benefits with thepoor who cannot afford to pay. The power ofpatents and intellectual property regimes tomobilize private sector funding in research isclear. In 1999, one corporation, IBM, hadmore patents (2756) than 134 countries com-bined (2643). In the new biological sciencesthis is even more true. Patents are taken outnot just on finished products, but also on pro-cesses and intermediate inputs. And eventhough there is a research exemption, it doesnot hold for products of research that havewide applicability and could be marketed.This issue will lead us to a world of scientificapartheid unless it is addressed in an imagi-
native way that does not sti-fle innovation or prevent theflow of private capital intoresearch.
However, it is muchmore than a matter ofmoney. Never before hasthe need for the scientificenterprise in developingcountries or its potentialfor success been greater.And yet as that enterprisereveals the marvels ofgenes and the secrets ofatoms, many in the devel-oping world are lookingwith suspicion on the new,and are trying to erect bar-riers to limit where mindsmay range.
The Values of ScienceThere is a central core of universal valuesthat any truly modern society must pos-sess, and that science promotes. These arerationality, creativity, the search for truth,adherence to codes of behavior, and a cer-tain constructive subversiveness.
The physicist, biologist, and writer Ja-cob Bronowski (1) defined science as “theorganization of our knowledge in such away that it commands more of the hiddenpotential in nature.” Science goes far be-yond the utilitarian application of knowl-edge; it impacts an entire world outlook,from cosmology to what makes us human.Values are not rules. They are, inBronowski’s words, “those deeper illumi-nations in whose light justice and injus-tice, good and evil, means and ends areseen in fearful sharpness of outline.” S
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S C I E N C E ’ S C O M P A S S
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www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 296 5 APRIL 2002 57
Science values originality as a mark ofgreat achievement. But originality is acorollary of independence, of dissentagainst the received wisdom. It requiresthe challenge of the established order, theright to be heard however outlandish theassertion, subject only to the test of rigor-ous method. Independence, originality,and therefore dissent—these are the hall-marks of the progress of contemporarycivilization. It is well established that ef-fective pursuit of science requires the pro-tection of indepen-dence. Without in-dependence of in-quiry, there can beno true scientific re-search. The safe-guards that indepen-dence requires areobvious: free in-quiry, free thought,free speech, toler-ance, and the will-ingness to arbitratedisputes on the basisof evidence. Theseare societal valuesworth defending, not just to promote thepursuit of science, but to yield a more tol-erant society that adapts to change andembraces the new.
Can such ideas resonate in a societywracked by poverty and hunger, riven bycivil strife and worried about fiscal crisis?I can already hear the naysayers, and theiremphasis on pragmatism, realism, and theurgent. But they are wrong. Science doeshave the capacity to capture the imagina-tion and to move the emotions. We mustsee science as an integral part of our cul-ture, which informs our worldview and af-fects our behavior. Even more, science isitself a culture of global dimensions, or atleast a cultural current that affects stronglythe society where it flourishes. It bringsimagination and vision to bear on concreteproblems and theoretical speculation. Thepoet William Blake said, “What is nowproved was once only imagin’d.” Imagina-tion and vision are at the very heart of thescientific enterprise.
Setting the AgendaFor science to realize its full promise andbecome the primary force for change in theworld, it requires that scientists work to
• engage scientif ic research in thepressing issues of our time
• abolish hunger and reduce poverty• promote a scientific outlook and the
values of science• build real partnerships with the scien-
tists in the South.It is inconceivable that of the 1233
drugs that have been approved in the lastdecade, only 11 were for treating tropicaldiseases, and of these, half were intendedfor livestock, not humans. It is inconceiv-able that many of the persistent issues ofchild nutrition that could be tackled bychanging the nutritional content of cropsare receiving so little attention. We needmore examples like Quality Protein Maize(QPM) and vitamin-A rice (Golden Rice).
We need to engage in real collaborationbetween centers in the North and South,
and to engage scien-tists in the South incommon researchendeavors. Only byjoint efforts will thevalues of science bestrengthened and thescientif ic outlookpromoted in soci-eties where strongcurrents of obscu-rantism and xeno-phobia vie with ra-tionality and toler-ance for the heartsand minds of people.
These efforts also need to involve the pub-lic, for only by such involvement do institu-tions flourish. Robert Putnam’s pioneeringwork in Italy in the 1990s showed how in-stitutional performance dramatically im-proves with greater civic involve-ment and support (2).
Such joint efforts require ad-dressing the many issues thatgovern the practice of science indeveloping countries, from policyto institutions to human resourcesto finance. In order to promotetrue partnerships between theNorth and South, we will have tothink beyond occasional intergov-ernmental protocols. We need tobring together the public and pri-vate sectors, government and civilsociety, national and internationalcommunity groups and founda-tions, all forged into true and car-ing coalitions.
Implementing this agenda will mean• not just new science and technology,
but also relevant science and technology• not just communications, but also
content • not just technology transfer, but also
real collaborations that promote the valuesof science and the scientific outlook.
This last point emphasizes process asmuch as outcome, for the process itselfpromotes fundamental ethical values thatare at the heart of what good science is allabout. In the words of Bronowski, “Thosewho think that science is ethically neutral
confuse the findings of science, which are,with the activity of science which is not.”
The Way ForwardClearly it is essential to fully integrate theinternational scientific community, with-out which there can be no effective prac-tice of science. But scientists’ voices mustbe heard loudly and clearly in the nationaldiscourse of their own societies. This ab-sence not only severs science from itssalutary effect on the modernization of so-cieties, but also undermines the publicsupport necessary for its pursuit.
To the members of the scientific com-munity in the industrialized world I say:You cannot let the talents of 80% of hu-manity flourish only if they leave their na-tive lands or remove themselves from theirsocieties. You must extend additional ef-forts to reach them and assist in thestrengthening of the scientific enterprisein the South.
To the members of the scientific com-munity in the developing world I say: Weare at a crossroads. Either we are going toreassert the importance of science and thescientific outlook, or we are going to wit-ness our societies increasingly marginal-ized in the world of the information age.
The scientific communities of the de-veloping world either will become moreand more detached from their own soci-
eties, or will reassert the links of the sci-entific outlook and its values in the main-stream of the modernization efforts oftheir changing societies. They must bytheir engagement help to create the“space of freedom” that is necessary forcivilized constructive social discourse,and essential for the practice of science.This commitment is the only way to cre-ate centers of excellence in the develop-ing world and to ensure that the benefitsof progress accrue to all the poor and themarginalized. It is these “values of sci-ence” that can unleash the full measure of
S C I E N C E ’ S C O M P A S S
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5 APRIL 2002 VOL 296 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org58
S C I E N C E ’ S C O M P A S S
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The most precious things are not jadeand pearls but the five grains.” Thefive grains referred to in this Chinese
saying are most likely to be rice, wheat,millet, sorghum, and maize (1). These ce-real grains account for up to 60% of thecalories consumed by people in the devel-oping world (2). We could also apply thissaying to the valuable genetic informationthat cereals contain—especially rice. Witha genome significantly smaller than thoseof other cereals, rice is an excellent modelfor genetic and molecular studies (3). Thepublication of draft genome sequences oftwo major subspecies of rice (indica andjaponica) on pages 79 and 92 of this issue(4, 5), provides a rich resource for under-standing the biological processes of plantsand promises to positively impact cerealcrop production.
If the world’s population continues togrow as predicted for the next 20 years,global cereal yield must increase 80%over the 1990 average to feed these addi-tional people (6). Compounding the prob-lem is that areas of productive farmlandcontinue to be lost through urbanizationand degradation of existing agriculturalsoils (7). Although achieving food securitywill require a multitude of social and eco-nomic solutions, the new knowledge de-rived from genomics research will makean important contribution. The challengeahead for the plant research community isto design efficient ways to tap into thewealth of rice genome sequence informa-tion to address production constraints inan environmentally sustainable manner.
Taxonomically, all cereals belong to oneof the two major groups of flowering
plants: the monocotyledonous plants(monocots). Completed in 2000, thegenome sequence of the weed Ara-bidopsis thaliana provided our firstcomplete view of the genome of adicotyledonous plant (8). With theavailability of the rice genome se-quence, we can now directly com-pare the genome of a monocot tothat of a dicot and to genomes ofother sequenced organisms. A sig-nificant observation is that over 80%of Arabidopsisgenes have closecounterparts (ho-mologs) in ricewhereas only 50%of rice genes havehomologs in Ara-bidopsis, suggest-ing that all ricegenes are essentially a super-set of Arabidopsis genes (4).Furthermore, at a significantlevel of similarity, 85% ofproteins examined in cerealshave a related protein in rice(3). This observation posessome interesting questions re-garding what the additionalrice genes do. Assuming func-tional conservation, the exten-sive DNA sequence similaritybetween rice and other cerealswill provide a short cut to theisolation of genes of agro-nomic importance in cerealsas well as in other crop species.Thus, genomewide analysesaff irm that rice is indeed amodel species for cereal research withpractical applications in both monocotsand dicots (see the Perspective by Bennet-zen on page 60).
Comparative genomic analysis enablesbiologists to assign a tentative function to
a gene according to what that gene does inanother species. For instance, the ricegenome sequence reveals a network ofgenes encoding phosphate transporters,first identified in yeast, that are likely tobe important for uptake of this macronu-trient from soils (5). Genes controlling dis-
ease resistance, toler-ance to abiotic stress-es, or synthesis of es-sential vitamins canalso be predicted bycomparative genomeanalysis (8–10). Thisinformation facilitatesthe formulation ofclearly def ined hy-potheses regardingwhich genes governspecific biochemicaland metabolic path-ways. Experimentscan then be designed
to determine whether the geneof interest has the predictedcontribution to that pathway.
For example, the pres-ence of candidate se-quences for phosphatetransporters can be test-ed for correlation withphosphate-uptake eff i-ciency in rice popula-tions exhibiting variabil-ity for this trait (11).
The task of theprotein encoded by thecandidate gene can befurther validated bywhole plant approaches,typically by overexpress-ing the gene of interest(by hooking it up to astrong regulatory do-main) or by knockingout its function, a fieldof study called reversegenetics (see the figure).
For example, if a gene is hypothesized togovern disease resistance, overexpressionof the gene or disruption of its activityshould lead to a detectable alteration in re-sistance to disease, thus confirming theoriginal prediction. Large collections of
P E R S P E C T I V E S : T H E R I C E G E N O M E
The Most Precious Things Are
Not Jade and Pearls… Pamela Ronald and Hei Leung
P. Ronald is in the Department of Plant Pathology,University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.E-mail: [email protected] H. Leung is at the In-ternational Rice Research Institute, DAPO Box 7777,Manila, Philippines.
“
their talent and their genius. All of that,however, requires liberating the mindfrom the tyranny of intolerance, bigotry,and fear, and opening the doors to free in-quiry, tolerance, and imagination.
With centers of excellence in the devel-oping world, there can be real partnershipsbetween North and South. The promise ofscience can be fulfilled to make the new
century one free of hunger and of absolutepoverty, accurately described as a condi-tion beneath any definition of human de-cency. All of that, however, requires ourjoint commitment as scientists to work forthe benefit of the entire human family, notjust the privileged minority who are luckyenough to live in the most advanced indus-trial societies. These tasks are enormous.
But the longest journey starts with a singlestep. So let us start. If not us, who? If notnow, when?
References1. J. Bronowski, Science and Human Values (Harper and
Row, New York, 1956).
2. R. D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Tradi-
tions in Modern Italy (Princeton Univ. Press, Prince-
ton, NJ, 1993).
